New writing award announced to honour Sir Terence Rattigan

The winner of the award will have their play produced professionally next year

The Terence Rattigan Society have announced a new writing award with monetary prizes and a professional production of the winning play on offer.

The winner of Terence Rattigan Society Award - which honours Sir Terence Rattigan's unique contribution to British drama and will be judged by David Suchet, Julian Fellowes, Thea Sharrock and Dan Rebellato - will receive £2,500 and a professional production of their play at the Sarah Thorne Theatre in Kent. The runner-up will received £1,000 and a guaranteed rehearsed reading.

Suchet, who will host the formal announcement of the award on 26 January at the Jermyn Street Theatre said: "I'm thrilled that the Terence Rattigan Society is offering an award for a new play in his name. As one of this country's true masters of the dramatists' craft, it is a fitting tribute to his enormous contribution to the theatre".

Fellowes commented: "Terence Rattigan is one of England's greatest playwrights whose light was hidden under a bushel for far too long before his recent rediscovery. An award in his name, dedicated to finding new talent and bringing it out of the darkness for the public to enjoy, seems only fitting."